Planning for Learning through ICT

By Rachel Sparks Linfield and Debra Maltas

Planning for Learning through ICT aims to introduce young children to what ICT is, and provides over six weeks worth of activities that explore a range of technologies suitable for children 3-5. The book provides ideas for helping children learn about the different purposes of ICT and explores how to use ICT to create, to find information, to play, to shop. The book focuses in particular on how to use ICT creatively as well as outdoors. Whatever your daily learning, this book aims to show how ICT can be easily and appropriately included in your everyday play and learning.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Allen Group
• Release date: Sep 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781909101289

Book preview

Title page

Planning for Learning through ICT

by Rachel Sparks Linfield and Debra Maltas

Illustrated by Cathy Hughes

Copyright page

Originally published by Practical Pre-School Books, A Division of MA Education Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, Herne Hill, London, SE24 0PB Tel. [phone]

© MA Education Ltd 2010

2012 digital version by Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

www.practicalpreschoolbooks.com

Front cover image © iStockphoto.com/Dejan Petkovski.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Making plans

Why plan?

The purpose of planning is to make sure that all children enjoy a broad and balanced curriculum. All planning should be useful. Plans are working documents that you spend time preparing, which later should repay your efforts. Try to be concise. This will help you to find information quickly when you need it.

Plans will range from policies that outline your setting’s vision for areas such as ‘Health and Safety’; ‘Individual needs’ and ‘ICT’ to those made for a particular year, term, week and day. Some plans can be written before children come to a setting whilst others must be based on observations of the children. For example, plans for ‘continuous provision’ consider areas such as the physical environment and the resources and adult help available. Such plans help to make use of all the available space and resources and monitor the time that children spend in each area. These plans can be made before the needs of individual children are known. Plans for enhanced provision are based on observations of the children in the areas of continuous provision. The enhanced provision might be to introduce an additional resource; to modify or change a resource or to set children a challenge. Plans for focused activities again should be based on observation and the needs of the children (for more detail see ‘Focused area plans’).

Whilst the importance of planning based on observation must be recognised, making provisional, long and medium-term plans allows groups to gather resources and consider how best to use the available time.

Long-term plans

Long-term plans map out the curriculum during a year and help to ensure that you are providing a variety of topics and are meeting the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2007).

Long-term plans need not be detailed. Divide the time period over which you are planning into fairly equal sections, such as half terms, with a topic for each section. It is important that the topics reflect the interests and needs of the children, and allow the children to make links between the new ideas they encounter and previous knowledge and skills. Some early years settings choose topics with the children. Other settings select the topics and then involve the children in helping to plan and initiate some of the activities.

Although each topic will address all the learning areas, some could focus on a specific area. For example, a topic on ICT would lend itself well to activities relating to Knowledge and Understanding of the World. Another topic might particularly encourage the appreciation of stories. Try to make sure that you provide a variety of topics in your long-term plans such as:

Always consider the time of year in which you plan to do a topic. ‘Minibeasts’, for example, would not be very successful in November!

Medium-term plans

Medium-term plans outline the contents of a topic in a little more detail. One way to start this process is by doing a ‘thought shower’ on a large piece of paper of all the activities, which are relevant to the topic. As you do this it may become clear that some activities go well together. The topic of ‘ICT’, for example, has themes such as using ICT for information; for creating; for playing; for shopping and using ICT out of doors.

Medium-term plans must be based on observations of the children’s developing needs and should always include a balance of child-initiated and adult-led activity. Make a chart by writing the